PRUDEN: Time to bail, saving the villains

I agree with everything Mr. Pruden says above, except for the part about how the public should sit back docilely while Demopublican President Bush and the Demopublican leaders of Congress stampede the Congress into voting, without examining alternatives, for a bill of which no person alive knows the exact content--just that it contains oceans and oceans of pork along with the bailout; and the consequences of which no person alive can predict--except that it will lead the nation another giant step forward into socialism, and it will trumpet the message to the greed-obsessed supercapitalists that they can continue to make inexcusably-shaky deals to enrich themselves, because the taxpayers stand ever ready to bail them out if their deals fall through.

• If you want to see the real facts behind the meltdown, please check out this youtube video. It is not your typical slant and goes back to the Carter years and tracks every fact and detail through the present time. All the facts check out and every voter should see it before they make up their minds. I believe many will be outraged. It's an eye opener. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NU6fuFrdC...

Sorry, but it seems to me that the facts on the ground don't jive with the ubiquitous forecasts of liquidity crisis, cash crunch, impending doom, etc. [like Y2K?] In retrospect, the "intelligence" on this is going to make the pre-2003 forecasts on Iraq look prescient. If the conventional wisdom is true and the banks don't have money/aren't willing to lend, why is JPMChase, among others, sending out solicitations to its customers BEGGING us to BORROW MORE money at close to zero interest rates??? Why are we not reading lots of sob stories in the newspapers [and seeing them on tv] of all the unfortuantes trying unsuccessfully to buy houses because they can't get mortgages??? [and how the "liquidity crisis" is hitting the poor/minorities/women the hardest] BEACUSE THE GOV'T AND MEDIA ARE DIVORCED FROM REALITY. [and of course the BANKS WANT the bailout, so they are not going to tell us otherwise]

pfb32765--The link you provided for the You-Tube video does not work. Is it complete? I am interested in what it has to say. Has anybody read the NYT article about the Swedish meltdown in 1992? I should be interested to know if anyone thinks it similar to our case. Of course, it was John Adams, though primarily responsible for our system of government, was only too aware of the difficulty of reining in our politicians, when he quoted Alexander Pope's admonition: "For forms of government let fools contest; Whate'er is best administer'd is best:".

The new link is http://www.youtube.com/TheMouthPeace timewarner made them remove the origianal because of the music. Watch the video and you'll see how much chaching they gave Mr. Obama

This whole situation reminds me of the last acts of a declining mega-state like the Roman Empire. Read up on that entity's history in the fourth and fifth centuries --- it's the story of a people who knew that they had serious problems, but only could come up with short term fixes with a short term benefit but with long term ramifications that made it unable for later generations to respond to the challenges that they faced. That's what this bailout is --- a short term fix that's going to spare some pain for the near term, but that's going to cost us dearly in two ways. First, it has now set a precedent for massive federal government interventions in a capitalist economy such that we're going to ultimately end up with a bastarized blend of the worst features of this and a socialist state. Second, this bailout bill is so massive that it is going to cripple the options that our children and their children our going to face through the rest of this century. We're myopic and self-indulgent as a nation, and, for that, we're in deeper trouble that I ever thought.

This whole scenario is eerily similar to the financial fiasco of 1928. Congress meddling with the economy and shoring up a system that would likely have recovered on its own much more quickly without the help. The forces of evil swirling at the edges of civilization in the form of Russia, Iran, China, North Korea. America and thus the world in all likelihood are in for a long slumbing recovery from this mess, while our enemies have time to focus the efforts and mass their forces. Makes one wonder if World War III is just around the corner circa 2019. Where's our Churchill, Obama is the Wilsonian bumbler of this farce, where's our Roosevelt our Truman?

Excellent article. I would only add one more comment from the Senate floor: "For years I have been concerned about the regulatory structure that governs Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac--known as Government-sponsored entities or GSEs--and the sheer magnitude of these companies and the role they play in the housing market. OFHEO's report this week does nothing to ease these concerns. In fact, the report does quite the contrary. OFHEO's report solidifies my view that the GSEs need to be reformed without delay. I join as a cosponsor of the Federal Housing Enterprise Regulatory Reform Act of 2005, S. 190, to underscore my support for quick passage of GSE regulatory reform legislation. If Congress does not act, American taxpayers will continue to be exposed to the enormous risk that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac pose to the housing market, the overall financial system, and the economy as a whole. I urge my colleagues to support swift action on this GSE reform legislation. John S. McCain May 25, 2006 McCain expressed his concerns many times as did Republicans as they proffered a reform bill just about every year from 2003 - 2008. Apparently McCain knows more about finance and the economy that a whole host of Democrats that claim otherwise. The Democrats who blocked S 190 (as they blocked all other such bills) have cost us $700 billion (and since when has a government "estimate" ever been anything but woefully low-balled).

Thanks Shore10 for correcting the you tube site. I wish every American would watch this video before deciding. I received the erroneous alternate site address when they attempted to take it down or off.

So. When do we indict the scum????? The DOJ now runs Soviet Style Show Trials of any/all republicans whom the democriminals identify as having "said" something that wasn't approved by George Soros or his Moveon.org gang of cutthroats. Is it possible that we can divert some of that rabid desire for social and political justice toward DE-Criminalization of the Congress of the United States, or is that sort of 'doing the right thing' off limits nowadays?

Arrest Barney Frank, throw him in JAIL. Perp walks for all---Raines, Pelosi, Schumer,Dodd, Biden---and send Obama on a one-way ticket back to Community Organizing in Illinois where he belongs. This crowd goes down as one of the worst bunches of legislators and corrupt public figures since---well---Mayor Richard Daley.

We cannot truly be "forward thinking" and make any sense, without an accurate understanding of where we are now and of how we got here. Like it or not, the President has signed the $700 billion bailout bill, and we have a lifetime in which to deeply regret its various effects, but what to do now? Indictments? Certainly! In order to build better reform, now is the time to get serious investigations underway. Since it is obvious that corruption of all sorts was involved, it is time for the Special Prosecutors to be commissioned. The names must be named, and the ugly deeds exposed to the bright light of day. Taxpayers should demand nothing less than a full and PROMPT accounting of the players' roles in creating our worst financial mess in a very very long time. But, don't count on Democrats seeing any reason to get started on this process any time soon. No way! Problem solved; time to MoveOn. Barack and Biden have bull-oney to peddle. Let the babbling begin.

Note the Preamble to the Constitution, which all Americans are supposed to agree with if they live within its sovereignty: We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, (1) establish Justice, (2) insure domestic Tranquility, (3) provide for the common defence, (4) promote the general Welfare, (5) and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves (6) AND our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America. Question: If a congressman, no matter what his constituency, carries out acts that cover up or aid a process that is an ‘irreparable act of harm to the nation’, such as those that allowed Fannie May to sell much for nothing, has he violated any of the six covenants of the Preamble to the point that he is a traitor?

You Republicans have used the war machine down through the ages to fix your economy. Look its different now there are to many nukes. Bush senior won the War in Kuwait and lost the election on a Grocery swipe out of touch with the people revelation. As Bill Clinton said in Denver you are now on the wrong side of history, 15 countries have nukes and you want to wag the dog. Only a madman would resolve a problem in this day and age with violence and war as a first priority. Modern Man see's the eschological disatar coming that will take a thousand years to clean up. One point for your trutha meter Fannie May and Freddie Mac, were privatised five years after their conception. Why you guys keep saying they are government sponsored is that to tie the Democrates into the blame game. Bailing out private companies is socialism. The infancy of communism. Demand creates price in free enterprise this is what gives the consumer a fair price. You eliminate competition. Production does not create demand and price should not be interfered with by government. Thats Marx theory of supply and demand. This is why Russia after 100 years of the economy not fontioning they try to become like us. Now Putins stock market is closed for two weeks. We should make these accountants and bankers zero out both sides of the balance sheet. This is the only way to find out are you in the red or in the black. Somebody taught Bush and MC Cain to shoot and then aim. Now your using Sarah Palin as a loose cannon hatchet man gattlen gun. A true maveric has no brand. The persentage of sub prime mortgages in relation to the economic system is minute. The only loose cash the USA had for the last 18 years is the Social Security Money and you could not privatise or get your enron hands on it. The War cost a trillion and you printed the money for that and somebody called it in so you trick us into a sub prime mortgage disastar and get us to bail you out. You should have cut and run like your dad. 5,000 foreclosed at $200,000 each is a trillion also. We out here are not stupid. Now Paulson has more money than God. Subject to Cheney and Bush back in the driver seat. The fox is in charge of the henhouse. The Insane are in charge of the asylum. The no confidence in the market is refleced in no confidence in the leadership or should I say commentators because nobody seems to know if the Gold is still in Fort Knox. After 8 years of Bush. After this Tsunami Financial crisis on your watch. The unjust wars. The GOP should be exiled and banned from representing people as a Party for at least 40 years. I voted for Barack Obama/Biden.

"We out here are not stupid." Oh yeah? You may believe that, but your writing is not coherent and laden with invectives making it difficult to comphrehend, let alone believe.